After much encouragement from such cool chicks as Eden, Connie, and Kate during a raucous and rowdy geeky girls get-together last week (martinis may have been involved), I decided to give Twitter one more shot.
And I am SO glad I did! Wow, I HAVE been missing out! Thanks to a few tips from my new Twitter friends on how to use it I totally get it now. Count me in among the throngs in the pro-Twitter camp.
I still don't kid myself that it's mainstream -- or even close to approaching the usability that made facebook and myspace household names -- but it definitely has that potential. And I'm excited to be watching its development from the user perspective!
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Newbie is Twittering: I don't get it
At PodCamp Toronto back in February, and in fact at any social media-related meetup or get-together in recent memory, the buzz has been all about Twitter. Twitter, it seems, is the Next Big Thing in social media, the app that everyone is talking about. Most of the folks who led me into the social media space -- Mitch Joel, Michael Seaton, Eden Spodek, Kate Trgovac -- are ardent fans of Twitter.
But I just don't get it.
I have tried, oh how I have tried. I joined Twitter about 6 months ago when hardly anybody I knew was on it; I quickly gave it up as not relevant to me because, as anyone on Twitter knows, it's only as valuable as the people you're following.
Recently, when everyone I know was exhorting me get back on it and follow them, I did... for about two weeks before I lost interest again.
I have no explanation for this except that it's just not for me. I'm really just not all that interested in brief snapshots of what people are thinking about at that moment. Oh, I can definitely see the appeal, and I can definitely understand the incredible value for anyone who can access Twitter via their mobile or handheld, especially those who travel a lot and find themselves stuck in layover and wanting a quick meetup. In fact Twitter was invaluable in the hours after the presentations had wrapped up on the Saturday at PodCamp Toronto -- thanks to Twitter 3 separate groups of people shared notes about their relative locations, and successfully connected at a restaurant that could accommodate 25 people.
But I don't have a handheld, or a mobile with web access, and I'd really rather read the reasoned, fully thought out musings one finds in blog posts than off-the-cuff thoughts on Twitter.
All of which makes me feel oddly disconnected from the social media crowd. Usually I'm among the first to embrace, then evangelize these kinds of tools. So tell me: am I missing something? am I using it wrong? Worse, am I missing out? Or am I just part of the larger mainstream that hasn't caught on to Twitter, and won't until it tips into the popular consciousness like facebook did?
But I just don't get it.
I have tried, oh how I have tried. I joined Twitter about 6 months ago when hardly anybody I knew was on it; I quickly gave it up as not relevant to me because, as anyone on Twitter knows, it's only as valuable as the people you're following.
Recently, when everyone I know was exhorting me get back on it and follow them, I did... for about two weeks before I lost interest again.
I have no explanation for this except that it's just not for me. I'm really just not all that interested in brief snapshots of what people are thinking about at that moment. Oh, I can definitely see the appeal, and I can definitely understand the incredible value for anyone who can access Twitter via their mobile or handheld, especially those who travel a lot and find themselves stuck in layover and wanting a quick meetup. In fact Twitter was invaluable in the hours after the presentations had wrapped up on the Saturday at PodCamp Toronto -- thanks to Twitter 3 separate groups of people shared notes about their relative locations, and successfully connected at a restaurant that could accommodate 25 people.
But I don't have a handheld, or a mobile with web access, and I'd really rather read the reasoned, fully thought out musings one finds in blog posts than off-the-cuff thoughts on Twitter.
All of which makes me feel oddly disconnected from the social media crowd. Usually I'm among the first to embrace, then evangelize these kinds of tools. So tell me: am I missing something? am I using it wrong? Worse, am I missing out? Or am I just part of the larger mainstream that hasn't caught on to Twitter, and won't until it tips into the popular consciousness like facebook did?
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Speaking of breaks... and tweets
Wow, I'm horrified to realize just how long it has been since I posted last! Talk about taking a break! Oddly, I do have lots of thoughts to share and ideas that I want to seek feedback on -- I just don't have a lot of time these days. Now that summer is over, work is on like Donkey Kong, as the kids say. But I will try to make time to post when I am moved to do so, rather than putting it off and putting it off until I forget what it was I wanted to post about.
One thing that's happened lately is that I finally (FINALLY) signed up for Twitter successfully. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: I'm about 5 months too late. It's true! I was momentarily thrilled that I finally managed to get our corporate IT department to modify my firewall enough so that I could sign up... only to find that Twitter is akin to a desolate ghost town. Maybe I'm just not following the right people. Or maybe I've missed the boat completely. Either way, I gotta say that there doesn't seem to be much action there, and when there is, my reaction is mostly: meh. I think I prefer longform blogs to the micro-thoughts posted on Twitter.
So I'm hoping someone can educate this naive newbie. What am I missing? Has Twitter jumped the shark? Or am I using it wrong?
One thing that's happened lately is that I finally (FINALLY) signed up for Twitter successfully. Yeah, I know what you're thinking: I'm about 5 months too late. It's true! I was momentarily thrilled that I finally managed to get our corporate IT department to modify my firewall enough so that I could sign up... only to find that Twitter is akin to a desolate ghost town. Maybe I'm just not following the right people. Or maybe I've missed the boat completely. Either way, I gotta say that there doesn't seem to be much action there, and when there is, my reaction is mostly: meh. I think I prefer longform blogs to the micro-thoughts posted on Twitter.
So I'm hoping someone can educate this naive newbie. What am I missing? Has Twitter jumped the shark? Or am I using it wrong?
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